Bachelor party turns into puppy rescue mission

A Michigan groom's bachelor party was hijacked in the best way when a dog showed up to the cabin he and his friends were staying at and stole their hearts. (KABC)

ABCNews

Friday, October 28, 2016

VICKSBURG, Mich. --

A Michigan groom's bachelor party was hijacked in the best way when a dog showed up at the cabin where he and his friends were staying and stole their hearts.

Mitchel Craddock of Vicksburg, Michigan, took family and friends to the woods in Tennessee for his bachelor party. The first morning there, they noticed a dog outside the front door.

"We were cooking bacon with the door open. The next thing you know, there's this dog sitting right at the front door. She wouldn't come inside, but she sat right there," he told ABC News.

A groom and his groomsmen's bachelor party in Tennessee was taken over when they discovered this dog - a mother of seven puppies.

The group of eight men quickly became friends with the furry party crasher.

"She was such a sweet dog that once we gained her trust, she was happy to see us, wagging her tail - just a big sweetheart," he said.

Craddock said he could tell the dog recently had pups, but she was dehydrated and malnourished, so her milk had dried up.

"After we gave her a bunch of food and water, she started producing milk again. So we figured if she's making milk, her pups can't be that old," he said.

Each of the puppies were rescued from the woods, washed and fed. The groom took one of them home and the rest were adopted by the groomsmen and their relatives.

Then they noticed the dog was protecting a spot in the woods. There, they found a big hole with puppies - seven of them.

"We set each pup individually down in front of her, and she nuzzled their faces, and she checked out the pups, and to the person holding them, she gave the look of 'It's OK, I trust you,'" Craddock said.

The pups were in healthy condition when the men found them. The groom of the party said, 'Every single one had a big fat belly on them.'

Although the pups had to be washed to get dirt and fleas off, Craddock said he was surprised by how healthy they were.

"Every single one had a big fat belly on them. The mom had given the pups literally everything she had," he said.

These men didn't expect expect to be caring for puppies when they left for the woods in Tennessee for a bachelor party.

All eight dogs, including the mom, were adopted by the groom and his groomsmen or their relatives. Their new happy homes are close to one another - within a 5-mile radius, Craddock said.

Craddock and his groomsmen didn't expect to be caring for puppies at the bachelor party.

"We pooled a bunch of money to buy food and beer. After the third day, our beer fund turned into puppy food fund," he said.

However, he has no regrets. His wife, Kristen, was excited for him to come home with a new puppy.

"I proposed to her with our chocolate lab, and now it's our joke that for any of our big life events, we'll get a dog," Craddock said.

These men didn't expect expect to be caring for puppies when they left for the woods in Tennessee for a bachelor party.